The Social Path

A new metric for ad success: Keeping eyes away from apps.

This past Sunday, I once again had the pleasure of being the "voice of AdFreak" on Twitter, as I live-tweeted about the Super Bowl ads for Adweek's blog. (I also made occasional contributions to the magazine's Super Bowl liveblog itself, which you can read a transcript of here.)

Amid the frenzy of tweeting about ads in real time, I became hyperaware of how the game and its celebrated commercials kept or lost my attention. When the game grew dull, I was able to cram in more online updates. When a great ad surfaced, I stopped typing and stayed glued to the screen.

I wasn't alone, as you can see in the chart above from analytics service Flurry, which tracks data from more than 160,00 iOS and Android apps. The graph shows how many mobile apps were being opened during every second of the game.

For example, during downtime, smartphone users would fire up the Twitter or Facebook apps to see what friends were saying. When the game got intense (or Madonna took the stage), phones went dark and the TV took hold.

Certain ads obviously drew in viewers. I was one of the millions who couldn't look away from the mysterious movie trailer that ended up being for the board game-inspired "Battleship." Coke's polar bears kept people away from their phones, as well.

There's so much insight to be gleaned from this data, though mostly it just illustrates two points:

• Major television events have become national social experiences, giving us all something specific to talk about. Short of major world events, what else these days brings together so many diverse voices into the same conversation? Whether it's the Grammys or big game, TV's biggest moments are unparallaled in their ability to get people talking in real time.

• Attention comes at the cost of discussion. This creates a tough challenge for the entertainment industry. You want your TV show to be a nationally trending topic on Twitter while it's airing, but you also want viewers paying attention, right? A viewer's natural inclination will be the chat during commercial breaks, which means there's never been more pressure on advertisers to keep eyeballs on the screen and off the phone for just a few more seconds.

Which leads us to another fascinating implication of this data: We might be witnessing a new metric for TV ad performance. Most advertisers simply look at a program's audience size and claim the impressions as their own. But this chart clearly shows that attention waxes and wanes, even if the audience never leaves the room.

Will your favorite brand's next TV ad be enough to keep people engaged, or will audiences find their eyes drifting down to the dreaded second screen?

David Griner is the Director of Digital Content for Luckie and Company and contributing editor for Adweek’s blog, AdFreak.com. You can reach him by e-mail or on Twitter.

What I learned from my social media hiatus. | Guest post by Javacia Harris Bowser

Today, we're excited to be joined by Javacia Harris Bowser, a blogger and founder of the Birmingham, Ala., women's writing group See Jane Write. Javacia shares the lessons she learned from taking a three-week break from social media.

Each January my pastor encourages all his parishioners to fast something for 21 days in an effort to grow closer to God. Many church leaders totally abstain from food for three weeks, while some members fast certain types of food (such as sugary treats) or give up something like television. I decided to give up social media.

I wrote and scheduled “See You Later” posts for my two blogs and alerted Facebook friends and Twitter followers that I was taking a social media sabbatical. I also gave up Foursquare (at the risk of losing all my hard-earned mayorships) and Pinterest. This fast also meant I wasn’t allowed to read any of my favorite blogs either, as that is honestly how I spend much of my free time.

When I started the fast a part of me wondered if I would reach the end of the 21 days and realize that I no longer wanted social media in my life. I admit that when I announced my hiatus I felt this strange sense of relief. For three weeks I wouldn’t have to worry about updating my blogs or feel compelled to check Twitter every hour to make sure I wasn’t missing a link to some life-changing article.

But that feeling quickly dissipated. Social media makes everyday life better. Seriously. Foursquare turns a dreaded visit to the grocery store into an exciting game as I battle local residents to be crowned as mayor of the places I frequent around town. I’m an English teacher and, therefore, spend hours grading very bad essays, but those moments aren’t as torturous when I can take occasional breaks to browse my favorite blogs. And while some people “veg out” after a long day at work by flipping through channels, I’m not much of a TV person and I would much rather relax by clicking through beautiful photographs on Pinterest.

Coincidentally, despite my hiatus I found myself talking about social media more than ever during my fast. While teaching Fahrenheit 451 to my students we spent most days discussing the pervasiveness of technology and the role social networking sites play in their lives. When the electricity went out in my apartment one evening my husband and I found ourselves having a conversation by candlelight about Twitter. (How romantic!) And speaking of Twitter, when storms hit the Birmingham area before dawn one Monday morning I felt lost without being able to track tornadoes through my favorite meteorologist’s tweets. The thought never crossed my mind to just turn on the television. (I told you I’m not a TV person.)

I did realize, however, that I need to make some changes regarding my social media behavior. First, I need to rekindle my love for blogging. That sense of relief I felt at the beginning of my fast was triggered because somewhere along the way blogging has stopped being fun. I need to fix that. I don’t want blogging to feel like a job, especially since I’m not getting paid to do it.

Second, I need to stop letting social media make me a bad friend. When I wrote about my return to social media on my blogs I decided to craft the post as a love letter because I realized that I’m just like the girl who ditches her friends for the new man in her life. I’m always so busy trying to update my blogs and read all the interesting articles being posted on Twitter that I don’t make time to have real conversations with my friends. And I use Facebook as a crutch. I figure, "I know that this friend is pregnant and that friend got a new job because I checked their status updates. No need to call them; I’m all caught up, right?" Wrong.

And finally, I have to make time for myself, to read books that have nothing to do with becoming a better blogger and, yes, perhaps even watch television. There has to be some reason so many people are into that thing.

Javacia Harris Bowser is founding editor of GeorgiaMae.com and she also blogs for The Writeous Babe Project. She can be reached via email or follow @writeousbabe on Twitter.

Photo credit: Leo Reynolds on Flickr

Three ways to improve your customer service on Twitter.

We talk a lot about creating great content for our social media accounts, with the goal of engaging fans and encouraging conversation. But sometimes we forget that the best thing about social media is that our fans are already talking — to us and to each other. We can't wait for people to strike up conversations, but we can't get so caught up in pushing out our own content that we forget to join the discussions our fans initiate.

Here are a few tips to stay in tune with your fans.

Make the Most of Search Terms

Set up search terms or columns in a third-party application like TweetDeck or CoTweet. Be sure to include your brand name, products, etc., to capture as many mentions of your brand online as possible. Just because your brand Twitter account isn't tagged or directly tweeted, that doesn't make the conversation any less important. Some of the most productive conversations I've had with customers over Twitter have been with those flattered by the effort we put in to find and contact them, before they contacted us.

Be Sure to Use Push Notifications

Push notifications via Twitter smartphone apps are nice for your personal accounts but mandatory for your business accounts. It's important to know as soon as possible when a consumer is discussing your brand, good or bad. Social media is all about immediate results, and waiting even a few days to thank a consumer for a compliment (or react to a criticism) can tarnish your customer service image.

Avoid Canned Responses

Consumers are on Twitter to talk, so talk we shall! The best way to manage customer relations on Twitter is to use a personal voice. You're not asking consumers to press a number to classify their concerns, so don't give them a canned response. Social media allows us to give our brands and companies a personality. Loosening up seems to be one of the most difficult parts of social media management for some but the effort goes a long way. It bolsters customer loyalty and appreciation the same way it bolsters a friendship.

Sure, this all seems easy enough but with the sheer volume of conversation happening on Twitter at any given time, it's a lot to keep up with. For years brands have provided a 1-800 hotline for customers to call but social media has flipped the script - now it's time for us to find and reach out to our customers. People are out there talking about your brand, whether or not you chose to seek them out and respond is your choice. But given the choice to take control of your own image or let consumers run wild, which one would you chose?

How has your organization used Twitter for customer service? We'd love to hear about your experiences in the comments.

Photo courtesy robpurdie on Flickr.

Kammie Avant is a social media planner for Luckie & Company. You can contact her by e-mail or follow @KammieAvant on Twitter.

Twitter Search goes multimedia with big upgrade.

Another day, another unexpected upgrade from Twitter. Heck, we were pretty happy to finally have a Follow button, but now the network is rolling out an overhauled version of Twitter Search.

You might not have access to the new version yet (I don't), so check out the intro video for a sneak peek:

This is a much-needed improvement on Twitter Search, which has become an absolutely vital tool for anyone looking to keep tabs on real-time updates from around the world.

I'll never forget staying up late into the night during the Iranian democratic uprising, watching as the flurry of first-hand updates poured in. I'll be excited to see whether this new, multimedia-rich format for Twitter Search makes it even easier (and more addictive) to watch as global events unfold. 

Also nestled into the search announcement was word that Twitter will be adding a direct photo uploading tool, instead of requiring you to use a third party like Yfrog or TwitPic. Well, it's still technically a third party — PhotoBucket — but it'll finally be built into the Twitter.com interface itself:

"Millions of people share photos on Twitter every day. We're going to make that easier than ever. Over the next several weeks, we'll be releasing a feature to upload a photo and attach it to your Tweet right from Twitter.com. And of course, you'll soon be able to easily do this from all of our official mobile apps."

I don't know who flipped all the calendars in the Twitter office over to 2011, but I sure appreciate them doing it.

David Griner is the Director of Digital Content for Luckie and Company and contributing editor for Adweek’s blog, AdFreak.com. You can reach him by e-mail or on Twitter.

Finally: 'Follow' button helps Twitter-active brands grow.

More than a year after Facebook rolled out the "Like" button (officially replacing "Become a Fan"), Twitter has finally created a similar one-click way to follow Twitter accounts from any site.

This is fantastic news, especially for brands and bloggers who are more active on Twitter than they are on Facebook. A visitor simply needs to click the "Follow" button and boom, they've subscribed to updates without having to click off your site to Twitter.

Here's how one looks for my account:

Follow @Griner

(If you're already following me, you won't see the button itself, so here's one for a feed you're probably not following:)

Follow @lighthousenews

Building a Twitter audience has long been an uphill challenge, especially in light of Facebook's tremendously powerful tools for gaining fans. Facebook has Like buttons, Like boxes and tremendously cheap advertising units that include "Like" buttons. Twitter has had....well, nothing.

What I especially like about the Follow button is that — unlike Facebook — Twitter has drawn a clear distinction between subscribing to content and sharing content. The Tweet button, launched in August 2010, is great for sharing blog posts and other specific pages.

Want to follow? Click Follow. Want to tweet? Click Tweet. How easy is that?

Facebook, on the other hand, made things unnecessarily confusing by calling everything Like. Want to subscribe to a blog's updates on Facebook? Click Like. Want to share a specific blog post on your wall? Click Like. Worst of all, you might not actually "like" the blog or the post; you simply want to subscribe or share.

Yes, Facebook continues to offer the little-used "Recommend" button as a substitute for "Like," but in practice, Facebook integration leaves you with Like overload. So congrats again to Twitter for helping make it easy to know when you're sharing and when you're subscribing.

Now how about giving us those targeted, self-serve advertising options to keep the momentum going? Pretty please?

David Griner is the Director of Digital Content for Luckie and Company and contributing editor for Adweek’s blog, AdFreak.com. You can reach him by e-mail or on Twitter.

Photo credit: Jean Mottershead on Flickr.

 

Dismantled by storms, united by social media.

On April 27, a series of tornadoes swept across the South, cutting a path of devastation in the terrain and lives of thousands of people, particular across our agency's home state of Alabama.

I could write for hours about the personal stories of heartbreak and heroism we've all seen and experienced over the past week, but it's a story many of us are familiar with by now. Instead, I want to talk about the powerful role that social media played in the hours and days that followed.

In my profession, we talk a lot about our digital community, but I've never experienced anything like the outpouring of support that we've seen over the past week. Strangers across the state, country and world took matters and information into their own hands, changing how tragedy plays out in a digital world.

Join us for Birmingham Twestival 2011, benefiting children's literacy.

For years, Twitter has faced constant consternation for being too shallow, too inane, too muddled in minutia of daily life.

But the reality is that Twitter can be an incredible resource for building and strengthening community. It brings us together and reminds us, in real time, that we’re part of a real world.

Few events have highlighted the power and potential of Twitter quite like the annual Twestival, an international day of fundraising that has generated more than $1.2 million in donations from more than 200 cities across  45 countries.

And when Twestival 2011 arrives on Thursday, March 24, I’m excited to say that our hometown of Birmingham will be taking part for the first time.

Sponsored by the team here at Luckie & Company, the Birmingham Twestival will benefit United Way of Central Alabama. Specifically, all money raised during our one-night event will help United Way support Imagination Library, which provides free books each month for children across the region.

Here are the details:

Birmingham Twestival 2011

What it is: A casual happy hour mixer benefitting United Way and Imagination Library

When: 4-7 p.m., Thursday, March 24

Where: Parkside Café, 4036 5th Avenue South, Birmingham (across from Avondale Park)

Who’s invited: Anyone who likes Twitter, supporting good causes and chatting with smart people in their community

What it costs: No cover charge, but we’d love it if you brought a little scratch to donate (see below for details)

Best of all: Every dollar donated at Birmingham Twestival, up to the first $500, will be matched by Luckie & Company.

How you can help:

• Spread the word!

• RSVP on the Facebook event, and share it with friends.

• Follow @BhamTwestival on Twitter

• Bring a donation check made out to UWCA, with “Imagination Library” in the memo line. Cash is fine, too.

• Every $30 donated is a year’s worth of books for one Alabama child, so feel free to consider that amount as an easy donation level.

• Can’t attend? Donate directly to United Way of Central Alabama, and be sure to let us know so we can add you to the fund-raising tally!

Hope to see you there!

UPDATE: Thanks to your generosity, Birmingham Twestival was a huge success! We surpassed our goal and raised $1,027 for Imagination Library. That will provide lots of literature for our kids.

Again, many thanks to everyone who made this event such a success.

David Griner is a social media strategist for Luckie and Company and contributing editor for Adweek’s blog, AdFreak.com. You can reach him by e-mail or on Twitter.

Don't tweet yourself into the unemployment line. Here's an easy tip.

At best, errant tweeting can leave you embarassed. At worst, it can leave you unemployed.

This week, a social media professional accidentally tweeted inappropriately from the Chrysler account he managed, lost his job, and now his agency has lost the account.

But this isn't an isolated incident. Last month, a Red Cross employee accidentally tweeted about a night of drinking; she didn't lose her job after the misfire. And there were plenty of similar cases before that one.

All of these faux pas were honest mistakes, but they show how disasterous inattentive tweeting can be. Realizing that most of these errors occurred while using a phone-based application, we at Luckie decided it was time to put serious thought into a policy to address this issue.

We put our heads together during an all-day, non-billable think tank and came up with an extensive crisis-aversion plan. And now we'll share our ingenious idea with you:

Use separate applications for professional and personal accounts.

Frighteningly simple fix, right? There are dozens and dozens of Twitter applications, and you're probably very fond of your choice application. But simply find a comfortable second option. I'll be using Twitterific and Twitter for iPhone. My colleague David Griner will be using Echofon as his backup to Twitter for iPhone.

Share your favorite applications in the comments, and if you've topped our brilliant resolution to this problem, please share that as well.

Kammie Avant is a social media planner for Luckie & Company. You can contact her by e-mail or follow @KammieAvant on Twitter.

Photo credit: Zac Peckler on Flickr.

Look before you tweet: Hasty posts can have harsh consequences

It's a frustrating byproduct of our hyper-connected world: Breaking news has become old news.

In an effort to be in the know and more importantly, in the conversation, we have neglected accuracy or education for the sake of urgency. I believe Ricky Bobby put it best when he explained, "If you're not first, you're last." We all race and read headlines and maybe, just maybe, scan an article or news story before we hastily text, tweet, post, or comment.

Most of the time the average person gets away with it without consequence but that wasn't the case for Nir Rosen, a journalist who lost his fellowship at NYU over hasty tweeting. Nir posted a link to this article from CBS News on the sexual assult of reporter Lara Logan with the comment, "Lara Logan had to outdo Anderson [Cooper]. Where was her buddy McCrystal?" He then went on to defend his statement in further tweets having still not read the article to discover that the assult was of a sexual nature.

All this from a journalist.

It's not a new phenomenon for people rush to form opinions before being properly informed. What is new is the speed at which we can diseminate misinformation. I count myself amongst the guilty masses but marketers, brands, and writers must use caution.

Last year Mashable posted a link to an article about MSNBC's purchase of BreakingNews.com, with a tweet leading people to believe Mashable had in fact been purchased by MSNBC (we wrote about it at the time). So no more quippy, fun headlines? I guess not. If you need help redirecting your snark, contact Griner.

I don't mean to climb on a soapbox about society. I'm sure we all agree this is a dangerous trend and I'm betting 95% of you are guilty of hastily retweeting before reading. What I'm curious about is....

• Are you guilty?
• Have you had a misinformed "reader" raise hell about you or your brand, and what was the result?
• And what have you seen as a solution, if any?

We're not gonna change the social habit of uniformed opinions, but is there anyway to control misinformation?

Kammie Avant is a social media planner for Luckie & Company. You can contact her by e-mail or follow @KammieAvant on Twitter.

Photo courtesy of Carlos Adampol on Flickr

How to design for social media: An up-to-date tutorial.

I'm no designer, to be sure, but the design limitations of social media seem to come up a whole lot in my life. So I decided to put together an updated set of specs and examples for how businesses can brand their presence on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

Take a look, and definitely share your own thoughts and examples in the comments:

How to design for social media

View more presentations from David Griner.

Big thanks to Jeremy Flint for inviting me to speak at the Internet Professionals Society of Alabama, where I debuted this presentation last week.

And a huge thanks to the brilliant Valeria Maltoni of ConversationAgent.com, whose blog post on "How social media is like sharecropping" has (obviously) stuck with me for a year and half.

David Griner is a social media strategist for Luckie and Company and contributing editor for Adweek’s blog, AdFreak.com. You can reach him by e-mail or on Twitter.